It was one of those rare nights where they had time to themselves. They had time to sit, talk, laugh, and not worry about anything else around them. Magnus’ schedule was cleared and Alec’s phone was on silent and left on the end table, far enough away that it wouldn’t distract him. Tonight was just about them.
The night started out with the two of them ordering in food, choosing to stay in, dressed in sweatpants and pyjamas. They had their feet up, sat on opposite sides of the sofa, their legs tangled in the middle under a blanket that Magnus had summoned from the bedroom. As the hours went by, and they finished their food, they moved closer and closer together, till Alec was pressed against Magnus’ side, practically in his lap.
They had lost themselves in conversation and wine and cocktails. It didn’t take long for the alcohol for get to Alec’s head. Only a few drinks in and he was giggling into Magnus’ shoulder about almost anything, Magnus joining him though Alec knew in the back of his mind that Magnus was nowhere near as drunk as he was, but he enjoyed the weightless feeling of laughing with his boyfriend.
“Magnus, have I ever told you how pretty you are.” Magnus froze; his hand in the air from where he was telling a story. Alec was staring at him, honesty in his eyes and a grin on his face. He leaned forward to press a kiss to Magnus’ cheek, not giving him enough time to process what Alec had just said.
“You’re very pretty. And I love you very much Magnus. You’re the best boyfriend ever! I’m so lucky, I have the prettiest boyfriend.” Alec didn’t stop, didn’t really know how to stop the words that were flowing from him. Though the look on Magnus’ face made him never want to stop complimenting him. He grabbed Magnus’ hand, flipping it round in his own, admiring and getting distracted by the way their hands looked together.
“I love you too, Alexander.” Alec grinned as Magnus pressed a kiss to his cheek, turning his head to capture his lips. They got lost in the feel of their lips moving together, Magnus moving to run his hands along Alec’s hips. Which in any other situation would have given the moment more heat, but tonight, it just made Alec laugh. He couldn’t seem to contain himself as he laughed against Magnus’ lips.
Alec collapsed, his head falling into Magnus lap as he continued to laugh, loudly and unashamed.
“I didn’t know you were ticklish, Alexander.”
“Neither did I.” Alec opened his eyes, his laughter fading as he reached up to stroke Magnus’ face.
“You’re so beautiful.”
“As are you, my love.” The couple smiled at each other as Alec continued to run his hand across Magnus’ face, and Magnus’ hand massaging Alec’s scalp causing him to hum in appreciation and slowly fall asleep.
When Alec woke up the next morning with Magnus pressed to his side, the pair still on the sofa, he couldn’t help but wish for more nights where it was just the two of them. Hangover be damned.
Alec is walking towards his apartment, holding some grocery bags. He decided to go grocery shopping after a long day of work at the law office, it was almost 6pm and all he wants is take a nice shower, and sleep.
Just as Alec gets into his apartment building, he quickly goes to check if he has got any mail, like he always does, he usually gets basic advertisements and bills.
Just as Alec flips through his mail, he sees this really colourful one, it catches his attention so he grabs it and his eyes go wide; It's a letter. From his high school. Alec opens it and reads it, his heart beating fast.
It reads:
Dear students who used to go to Institute Brooklyn High school,
This is the old school president, Stephan Halvey.
I'm writing this letter because I'm inviting you to the Institute Brooklyn High school reunion, it's been 6 years since we all graduated and it would be nice to catch up with everyone.
This reunion will be on Friday, September 21 at 6 pm, in the Institute Brooklyn High School gymnasium.
I hope to see you all there, feel free to bring anyone.
Sincerely,
Stephan Halvey.
Just as Alec stops reading the letter, he looks up at the wall like it's the most interesting thing in the world .
Friday. That's tomorrow. Alec’s mind is blown right now, his high school reunion tomorrow, and it's been 6 years and he's still single, he needs a date for this reunion.
‘Magnus.’ Alec quickly thinks and rushes towards his best friend's loft.
“I need you to be my date for this stupid high school reunion.” Alec says as he rushes into Magnus’ loft, feeling really panicky. Magnus raises his eyebrow, putting his wine down, looking at his best friend.
“What's wrong?” Magnus says as he looks at Alec and makes room on the couch for him to sit beside him.
Alec takes a deep breath, pulls out a crumpled piece of paper and gives it to Magnus. “ I got invited to this high school reunion and fuck, they can't make fun of me for being single.” Alec says as he tries to take deep breaths, feeling really nervous and panicky.
“Whoa, whoa, Alexander, deep breaths. Tell me what's wrong and why you need a date.” Magnus says as he puts a hand on Alec’s shoulder, trying to comfort him.
Alec looks at Magnus and bites his lip, trying to control his breathing, Magnus’ soft smile comforting him.
“I used to be bullied in high school for being a nerd and was voted the one who will always be single. I- I mean they were right, I’m still single and still will be for a long time.” Alec says softly as he looks down, feeling a little shame. He has dated a few people but it never ended up serious, his relationships usually last for about a month or two until they break up with him. The reason why for every break up?
He’s really into Magnus. His best friend.
Alec has been in love with Magnus ever since they have met in College in their English class, they became friends instantly, they had so much things in common, and they connected too easily. Sure, Magnus was loud and out there, and Alec was shy and quiet, completely opposite but since they met, they were inseparable.
After a few moments of silence, Alec speaks up.“I-I'm sorry I suggested this, I know you have better things to do than pretending to date me for a silly high school reunion.”
Alec stands up from the couch and he feels someone grab his hand, to stop him from walking away. Alec turns away and he sees Magnus looking at Alec with a soft smile and Alec’s heart melts a little.
“I'll do it.” Magnus says, looking determined.
Alec’s jaw opens wide and he looks at Magnus with eyes wide open. “W-Wait, really?” Alec says, shock in his voice.
“Yeah, it's only for a night, how bad can it be?” Magnus shrugs, inspecting his dark blue coloured nails.
“Magnus, are you sure? I don't want to force you and make you uncomfortable.”
Magnus sighs and puts his hand on Alec’s arm. “Alexander, you're my best friend and you’ve always been there for me. Let me be there for you.” Magnus says with a soft smile, trying to reassure Alec.
Alec nods and smiles. “Okay. Thank you, Magnus.”
Magnus smirks and playfully hits Alec’s shoulder. “Hey, what are best friends for? When is this reunion?”
Alec licks his lips, playing with his fingers. “Uh, tomorrow.”
Magnus’ eyes go wide and stare at Alec in disbelief. “Tomorrow? You serious?”
Alec nods and hides the urge to chuckle.
“What the fuck.” Magnus whisperes as he takes his glass of wine and takes a sip of it.
“I'm sorry it's so soon, I just saw it. But hey, there will be an open bar.” Alec says as he tries to calm Magnus down.
Magnus chuckles. “Open bar? I like the sound of that. And hey, don't apologize, sure it's last minute but we can manage.”
Alec smiles and nods. “Thank you, again.” Alec says as he puts his arms around Magnus, giving him a hug.
He hears Magnus sigh and put his hands around him. “You're lucky we’re best friends, and that I love you.” Magnus mumbles and Alec’s heart beats faster.
“I love you too.” Alec says softly, hugging Magnus a little tighter.
“What have you gotten yourself into, big brother?” Isabelle says as she walks into Alec’s room.
It's Friday and in a few hours Alec has to pick up up Magnus and go to the school for the reunion. Alec is not nervous. Not at all.
“What do you mean?” Alec says as he buttons up his blue denim shirt, not looking at Isabelle.
“Oh don't play dumb with me, Alec. Asking Magnus to pretend to date you for this high school reunion when you're clearly crushing on him hard? Bad fucking idea.” Isabelle says as she walks towards Alec’s bed and sits on it, crossing her arms.
“I panicked, and why does it matter? It's not like it it will turn into anything, it's just for one night.” Alec says, trying to not sound hurt. It's only for one night, after maybe everything will be okay. Alec says to himself.
“You dragged Magnus with you, you’ve clearly been crushing on the guy hard for the last 6 years. Don't lie to me and say it doesn't mean anything, it means so much to you.” Isabelle says, looking frustrated.
Alec lets out huff of annoyance and turns around to look at his sister. “Don't. It might mean something to me but I doubt that it means something for him, he's doing this because he's a good friend and that's it.”
Isabelle's face softens. “Alec, you can't keep doing this to yourself, you're going to hurt yourself even more. And you're an idiot if you don't think this doesn't mean anything to Magnus.”
Before Alec can question Isabelle, she leaves his room and goes to her room.
Alec sighs and goes back to getting ready for the reunion.
Alec and Magnus drive by the high school and Alec starts to sweat and get clammy. Fuck, this is a horrible idea. Alec thinks, he shouldn't have came here or forced his best friend to go and fake being his boyfriend for one night.
“Hey, I can feel you overthinking from here. Take a deep breath, everything will be okay.” Magnus says as he puts his hand on top of Alec’s trying to calm him down.
Alec looks at Magnus’ hand on top of his and smiles slightly. “I know, I'm just nervous.”
“I know, but it will be okay. Now, let's get out of this car and show them fuckers that you got a boyfriend. Not just a regular boyfriend, you’ve got Magnus Bane as a boyfriend and that is a true blessing.” Magnus says with wink and gets out of the car, waiting for Alec to get out too.
I can do this, Alec says as he takes a deep breath and steps out of his car, walking towards Magnus with an anxious smile.
“You ready?” Magnus says holding out his hand towards Alec.
Alec looks at Magnus’ hand, nods and takes it, holding Magnus’ hand tightly. “Let's do it.” Alec says with a smirk.
“Damn, your high school definitely out did itself.” Magnus says as they walk into the gymnasium, holding hands.
Alec may look calm on the outside, but on the inside, he's about to burst. He's in his old high school and he's holding Magnus Bane’s hand.
“Yeah…” Alec says as he looks around. He can recognize some people and he hates it.
Alec feels someone's lips on his cheek and he blushes. Did Magnus just kiss my cheek? Alec turns his head to look at Magnus and Magnus is giving him a cheeky smile.
“Don't worry.” Magnus says with a wink and Alec can't help but let out a small chuckle.
“Alec Lightwood? Damn, you sure have changed quite a bit.” Alec and Magnus both turn around to see who this voice belonged to and it was Stephan the school's Vice President.
“Oh, uh hi.” Alec says awkwardly and Stephan shakes his hand and looks at the man next to Alec and smiles.
“I see you brought someone? A friend?” Stephan says as he checks Magnus up and down and Alec feels a little uncomfortable.
Alec puts a hand around Magnus’ waist and smiles. “This is Magnus. My boyfriend.”
Stephan smiles and shakes Magnus’ hand. “Nice to meet you. Nice to know Alec has gotten himself someone, we all thought he was going to end up alone.”
Alec bites his lip and is about to say something until Magnus interrupts him.
“Alexander is great, and of course he was gonna find a boyfriend. He's smart, sweet, and not to mention good looking.” Magnus says defensively, bringing Alec closer to him.
Alec looks at Magnus with so much awe. Alec has always admired Magnus for his honesty and how loyal he is, he truly cares about people and he always shows it, especially to Alec, when there is someone making fun of him, he always steps in and puts that person down and Alec is forever thankful for that.
Without thinking Alec leans down to give a quick kiss to Magnus cheek and and he felt Magnus still for a moment and then Magnus let go and took in that kiss and smiled.
“Uh, okay guys. Have fun, there is an open bar so knock yourself out and try to socialize with everyone here.” Stephan says awkwardly and leaves to talk to other people.
A few moments of later. “Damn, good one.” Magnus says and Alec nods slowly and sighs. Of course, it was only for the show.
“Sure. Let's go to the bar.” Alec takes Magnus’ hand and they walk to the bar.
Isabelle: I hope you're having fun and i'm hoping you're not breaking your own heart in the process. You gotta tell him.
Alec: yeah maybe, we’ll see.
Isabelle: i'm serious Alec.
Alec: ok, bye Iz.
Alec sighs as he takes a sip from his third beer, already feeling tipsy and he feels good.
He's currently laughing at some funny story that Magnus is sharing with him about him and Ragnor being stranded in Japan for a week. Alec loves it when Magnus tells jokes and laughs. He loves hearing Magnus laugh, it's his favourite sound, he wants to treasure it and hear it forever.
“You doing okay? You've been staring at me for three minutes not moving and it's kind of scaring me. I know my face is beautiful and everything but please don't die on me for staring at my face for too long.” Magnus says teasingly.
Alec chuckles, taking a sip from his beer. “I can't stare at my gorgeous boyfriend’s face?” Alec says and looks at Magnus.
Magnus takes a sip from his martini and slides closer to Alec. “Mmm, you could but it's not free.” Magnus says teasingly.
“Oh yeah? What's the cost?” Alec’s eyes trail to Magnus lips and he stares at them.
“You need to k-” Magnus gets interrupted by a high screech voice.
“Oh, fuck me.” Alec mumbles and Magnus winks.
“Later.”
Alec is about to reply until he gets a attacked by behind by a short girl with blonde hair.
“Alec! Oh my, you've changed so much! You're so much hotter and you look buff. Oh my god!” The girl screamed. Tiffany.
Alec remembers Tiffany, she was so annoying and she was always obsessed with every guy in the school and always jumped on random people's backs for no reason.
Alec hears Magnus chuckle beside him and Alec gives him a glare.
“Hi Tiffany, nice to see you again.” Alec lies and Magnus chuckles even more.
“Oh Alex, you've grown up so much! you look so good and your friend here looks so hot too.” Tiffany yells out.
“Uh, it's Alec.”
“Yeah, Alex”
They all stare at each other for a few moments until Tiffany decides to say something again.
“So are you two friends?”
Magnus snorts. “Oh yeah, great friends.” Magnus says and Alec rolls his eyes.
“Oh yeah? Best friends” Tiffany says with a big smile and eyes wide open.
This time Alec snorts. “Best friends that hold hands and kiss often.” Alec says, playing along with the dating thing.
“You two kiss! I've never seen two boys kiss before! Show it to me?” Tiffany asks and pokes Alec’s shoulder.
Is this girl serious? Alec thinks to himself.
“Um, uh, I don't th-” Alec gets turned around and faces Magnus, who has a big smirk on his face and Alec furrows his eyebrows.
Before Alec can say anything, Magnus leans towards Alec and captures his mouth into a slow, chaste kiss.
Alec swears his heart stops beating. Magnus is kissing him. It's the most amazing thing ever. He's always thought about kissing Magnus ever since they've met in college and now that this is actually happening, Alec feels like he's on Cloud 9.
Alec puts his hands on Magnus’ waist and pulls him closer and kisses him back, his kiss full of passion. Alec feels Magnus’ tongue begging for an entry and he easily lets him in, letting out a small moan.
Fuck. Alec thinks. This is everything he's ever wanted. He can't hide it any longer. He has to tell Magnus how he feels.
After kissing for a few minutes, which felt like forever. They pull back and stare at each other.
Tiffany long gone, she just randomly decides to disappear after their long kiss.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile.” Magnus confesses with a small smile.
“Really?” Alec asks, a bit shocked.
“Yeah.” Magnus says quietly, not looking into Alec’s eyes, feeling embarrassed.
Alec puts a hand on Magnus’ jaw and turns his face to look at him. “Hey, no. It's okay.”
“Really? We've been best friends for 6 years and now I confess to you that I've been wanting to kiss you for a long time. I'm a horrible best friend.”
Alec stays quiet for a moment and he puts a hand on Magnus’ face, stroking it with his thumb. “Well, I guess I'm a terrible best friend because I've been in love with you for 6 years.” Alec confesses, looking into Magnus’ eyes.
A few moments later, Magnus grins and let's out a small chuckle. “We're idiots.”
Alec nods and snorts. “I would say so.”
“So, would you like to get out of here and have a proper date that we were supposed to have a long time ago?”
Alec nods and smiles. “Yes.”
Magnus takes his hand and they start walking. Magnus abruptly stops.
“You okay, Magnus?” Alec asks, concern on his face.
Magnus turns to look at Alec. “I love you too, by the way.”
Alec chuckles and rolls his eyes. “You sure are something.”
Magnus beams and gives a small peck to Alec’s lips, walking to the exit of the school, holding hands with smile on their faces.
fire: a maia/isabelle soulmate au in which your soulmate’s scars appear on your body, but in a different colour. | words: 2,630.
Isabelle wasn’t sure how she felt about soulmates.
At first, she had been almost sure she didn’t have one. It wasn’t completely impossible; there were cases (though they were very uncommon) of people who didn’t have soulmates, of people who just didn’t give a fuck about who their soulmates were and chose to date anyone else, of people whose soulmates had changed, and everything in between. However, being one of those people meant that she was uncommon, and she didn’t want to be. Not in that sense, anyway.
But all of those were the thoughts that came to her over the course of time.
Alec’s soulmate had been present almost since he was born, though he didn’t notice until he was seven, and a big, greyish bruise had appeared on his chest out of nowhere. Jace had gotten one on his elbow not much long after. But Isabelle’s body remained silent. She didn’t freak out. Not at first, at least. “Some soulmates show up later in life,” her father’s voice chased her every time she started worrying. But then she turned eleven. Fifteen. And all the marks on her body still belonged completely to her.
By the time she was sixteen, she started dating people, even if, at first, it felt weird. But she’d started seeing the fun side of it, and actually started enjoying it.
The insecurities didn’t go away that quick, though. Actually, they never went away. And that had caused her to, one night, sneak out of her bedroom in the Institute. Her footsteps barely made a sound while she moved through the wide and cold corridors. She got to Alec’s bedroom door, just like many other nights before this one, and knocked. The wood made a deep sound and, a moment later, she heard her brother’s voice. “Come in.” And so she did.
She had clearly woke her brother up. If he was annoyed by that, he didn’t show it. He sat on his bed and patted the mattress slightly, to tell her to come near him. She did. She stared at his brother in silence, not knowing exactly how to put all the mess in her head on words. “Does it hurt?” she said at last.
“Does what hurt?” Her brother’s eyebrows went up almost instantly.
“When your soulmate gets a scar. And it appears on your skin. Does it hurt?”
Alec tilted his head, as if pondering his answer. “No, it… it kind of burns.”
She had so many other things to say, to ask (why is this happening to me, why does everyone have a soulmate but me, I didn’t do anything wrong, or at least not wrong enough to deserve this, why, why, why), but she kept them all to herself. Later, she thought it had been a good decision.
She went to sleep, and woke up less than one hour later. At first, she didn’t realize what was going on. Then, her neck started burning. But it wasn’t how she had pictured it when her brother had described it to her before. It was, well, actual burning. As if fire were eating away her skin; she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what to do, but as a reflex, she placed a hand on her neck. She closed her eyes, and before she could do anything else, it was over. She let out a big sigh of something she couldn’t quite conceive; perhaps it was relief, but she didn’t feel… well, relieved. She was glad the first part was already over, and that it had lasted just a few seconds. But at the same time, her heart had started to race with fear and nervousness. She had gotten used to the idea that her soulmate, whoever that was, wasn’t going to make not even a brief appearance in her life, and the fact that after all these years of nothingness he (or she, she reminded herself; it could be a she) had finally shown up felt out of place. And there was something else. What if it really wasn’t her soulmate? What if she was just getting her hopes up for nothing? It could have easily been the aftertaste of a dream, or a rash.
She debated herself in her mind between turning on the lights and looking at herself in the mirror, or going back to sleep. It was a brief fight, and she got up. The doubts wouldn’t have let her sleep anyway. She walked towards the big mirror in her room and stared at her neck. Four big, greyish scratches had appeared there. That could only mean one thing: her soulmate was a werewolf. They’d been turned just a minute ago.
The next morning, she glamourized the new marks on her body. For the first time in her life she thought, this is something I must keep to myself. It was such an unusual thought she wasn’t sure it had been her voice the one that had pronounced it in her mind. She had never, ever, kept something away from her brothers.
The next morning wasn’t exactly a morning. When Maia woke up, the light filtering through her curtains made her guess that it was somewhere near noon. There was not a single inch of her body that didn’t hurt. She opened her eyes and immediately shut them again, trying her best to stop the memories from the previous night to come up in her mind. (Her best wasn’t good enough.)
Tears streamed down her face when she remembered that it had been Jordan. She had expected him to be just a bad experience. But no. He couldn’t be just a bad experience. He had to ruin her life. She hugged herself and expected to magically stop herself from going over those things again, and again, and again. But she didn’t. She thought of that so-called Luke, of how he’d offered help, of how he’d told her he cared about her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him again; doing so would mean that it had all been real, and she didn’t want it to be.
She got out of her bed at last, and cursed whoever decided that putting mirrors in bathrooms was a good idea. There they were, big, red, pulsing, the four scratches that would ruin her life forever. But there was something new, too. A little, greyish and weird-looking drawing near those scratches. She got near the mirror, but she didn’t recognize the shape at all. She smiled with bitterness and irony. She had had the worst night of her life, but hey, look at the positives! At least, her soulmate had gotten a cool tattoo.
That afternoon, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut her hair. (Long hair was uncomfortable anyway.)
Years passed. Isabelle remembered feeling quite disappointed. For some reason, she’d thought that way of finding out that she had a soulmate had been a sort of message. She didn’t expect to meet them the next day, but perhaps that same week. Month? That same year? But that hadn’t been how things quite went.
Isabelle was sure she was being a bit overdramatic. She knew, as her father had once told her, “you can’t force these things.” But knowing and doing are two different things. She had even run out of family members she could talk to about soulmates. Her father had stated that, Jace had said something similar and along the lines of “just stop worrying”, and Alec’s brain was already saturated with Isabelle’s problems. Max was way too little to understand anything she was going through and her mother was simply out of reach. She still covered the scratches and every new injury that may appear after the full moon, out of habit and not wanting to be questioned.
On the other hand, Maia’s blood boiled every time she thought about meeting her soulmate. She was sure she was better off when she didn’t know she had one, because, without having meeting them, she knew they weren’t the right one. She knew they wouldn’t understand her, because her soulmate was a shadowhunter. With time and a little of Luke’s guidance, she’d found that out. She had to admit the runes were cool and looked good on her, but a part of her still hated them. She felt they’d ruined her body simply because she hadn’t chosen them to be there. At first she’d covered them (and her scratches) with makeup, but then they’d started increasing in number so much that they’d ended up covering almost her whole body. And she was fucking lazy. The only positive thing she could find was that, at least, it wasn’t Jordan.
Being a shadowhunter and entering Jade Wolf was a weird situation. The werewolves looked back at Isabelle as she was crossing the doorstep with a clear “you don’t belong here” in their eyes. She looked around, but the person she was looking for clearly wasn’t there. She let out a deep sigh and was about to turn and leave, when a girl she’d never seen before stepped in front of her. She was brown-skinned and had beautiful dark curls. She had greyish runes all over her body and her face had a weird comfort to it, as if they’d known each other all their lives. “What do you want?” she asked bitterly before Isabelle could say anything. “Luke’s not here.”
“I know, I was… looking for Simon, actually.”
“Well, he’s not here either.”
“Yeah, I can very much notice,” she murmured. “Thanks anyway.” She pulled out an uncomfortable smile and went away.
That night, when the glamour over her soulmate’s marks had faded, she noticed something with the corner of her eye. She stared at the marks of her neck and she could almost swear her heart had stopped for a second when she realized she’d seen those exact marks on someone else’s neck. She grabbed her phone and cursed the fact that this had to happen when Alec was at Magnus’s. She waited, pacing around her dimly lit room. “Alec,” she said when he picked up; she didn’t have the energy to wait for him to speak. “I think… I think I met her.”
When he did speak, he sounded confused. “Met… who, exactly?”
“My soulmate,” she whispered with excitement. “I went to Jade Wolf looking for Simon, and… she was there. I think. I mean, I think she’s my soulmate, but I’m not sure. You know, she’s black, has curly, short hair… She was wearing a shirt of a rock band, or a superhero?”
“Maia?”
It turned out, Alec hadn’t given her a lot of ideas on how to proceed. Isabelle wasn’t really surprised, considering she was the one that usually gave him relationship advice. What she was really surprised about was, Jace was actually really good giving advice. Following his words, she went to the Hunter’s Moon one night, with the difference that her soulmate’s marks were showing. As her brother had said, “if she recognizes them, you’ll know it’s her.” She became self-conscious about the scratches on her neck, wondering how Maia could go through life with them out in the open. She figured it had taken her a long time to be able to do that.
There she was, standing behind the bar and talking to some people Isabelle didn’t pay attention to. She sat near her and, when Maia faced her, she asked, “Uh, can I get a martini?” Maia stared at her for a long while. Their eyes met, and Maia’s examined Isabelle’s face, and stayed for a long while on the greyish marks on her neck. Her lips parted, she took breath to say something—but then she thought better. She took a cup on her hands, her fingers slowly caressing its cold surface. She lifted it from the table, and when she was about to pour liquid in it, because of nervousness or maybe pure distraction, her fingers slipped and the cup smashed the table, breaking into a million pieces. She bit her lower lip and let out a loud, “Fuck!” She started picking up the glass pieces, and letting little groans out of her mouth when she cut her hands. Isabelle stood up her seat and said, “Do you want me to help--?” and then she noticed the burning on her hands.
She stared at them while little, grey marks appeared on her skin. Maia was staring, too, and even some clients had turned around to see what was going on. Isabelle just pronounced a tiny, “Oh.”
“Look, just so you don’t get your hopes up, I don’t believe in all that soulmate stuff,” Maia was telling Isabelle. They were in the alley at the back of the Hunter’s Moon. It was nighttime, everything was dark and quiet. She’d had her suspects, since they’d met that day at Jade Wolf. That girl had runes exactly where Maia had hers, but she didn’t have the scratch marks… Or at least, Maia’d thought so. A glamour. Because that was exactly what she needed, a soulmate that was ashamed of her.
“It’s fine,” and she meant it. She didn’t look annoyed, in fact, she was wearing a reassuring smile. “I just… I mean, only if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to know you anyway.”
“Why would you want to get to know me if I’m not interested in being in a relationship with you?”
Isabelle stayed quiet for a while. Then she spoke again, “You’re trying to get rid of me.” She wasn’t asking. “You did the same thing at Jade Wolf, the other day. Someone broke your heart and that’s why you don’t want anything to do with me.”
“You know nothing about me.” Her eyes shined with anger and a little bit of indignation while she spoke those words.
“No. But I want to. That’s why I came here in the first place.”
Maia couldn’t say no. But, looking in retrospection, she wasn’t sure she’d even wanted to. There was a strange force that, she knew, would’ve led her to Isabelle anyway.
“Maia.” Isabelle placed her hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. “Maia, it’s ten in the morning.”
It was the first time Maia had stayed the night at the Institute. Isabelle had let her sleep while she got ready, but she didn’t want her to wake up to an empty bed.
“Since when is ten in the morning too late?” sleep made her drawl.
“Since Shadowhunters get up super early, I guess?” Isabelle smiled and sat near her girlfriend on the bed as she tied up her hair in a bun.
They stayed in silence, and Maia put her arms around her. Isabelle remembered feeling reluctant about this, about them, after the night they had agreed to have at least a proper conversation. There were cases in which things just didn’t work out. With the luck she’d been having, that was the most possible turnout. And she didn’t want them to not work out, she hadn’t been looking for her soulmate almost all her life for them not to work out.
But when Maia’s lips touched the base of her neck, her mind shut down. She bit her lower lip lightly as she felt her skin burning; it wasn’t the same painful fire she’d felt the night when Maia was turned. It was like a chimney, like having a hot bath in an especially cold morning. A soft moan came out of her mind as Maia’s lips as they kissed her jawline. “I need to go.” Maia let out a laugh; it was barely a breath that tickled her skin. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
When they kissed goodbye, Isabelle felt the fire burning inside of her.
your post abt the books made me like wanna give you a round of applause. that was so good?? and you had reciepts and didnt act immature in any way. good shit, you're the type of person we need in this fandom.
BABE IM GONNA CRY this is so sweet thank you!! Also I love your url!!
i associate you with -lots of different colors but mainly teal and bright pink (because that was the color scheme of one of your gifsets i saw when i first followed u) -gifs like super HQ good gifs that are amazing -roses (like pink and white roses idk why???) -matthew daddario and alec lightwood (probs because ur icon but also just i see your blog nd im like ??? looks like something alec would follow if he had a tumblr) i love u riya!!! ur a lovely mutual of mine 💗
aaaa this is so lovely dksjfklsjljjda you are the loveliest person im blushing
